


sometimes you get a second chance but you waste it partially (because you’re stupid) and that’s okay

by Marnie27



Series: Crack Pairings [1]
Category: One Piece, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: All Might is a hero, Crack Pairing, Don’t question the ship guys like it’s fine don’t worry about it, Fix-It, Fluff and Crack, Friends to Lovers, Gay, Happy Ending, Isekai, M/M, Not Underage, One Piece - Freeform, Quirks aren’t mentioned that much, Reborn - Freeform, Self-Doubt, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Villains, ace is a hero, all Whitebeard’s reborn into my hero academia, everyone else is not, hero - Freeform, internal arguments, izuku is briefly mentioned, mha - Freeform, reincarnated, they're more implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:53:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27907033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marnie27/pseuds/Marnie27
Summary: The Whitebeard pirates are reborn with the innate knowledge that their family is reborn with them, even if they’re not always nearby. All pirates collectively choose to become villains, because, well — freedom and lack of rules, obviously... However, Ace is Ace and so he doesn’t get the memo.Or; The Whitebeard pirates are all reborn into My Hero Academia years before the plot line. Chaos.
Relationships: Izou/Thatch (One Piece), Portgas D. Ace & Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Portgas D. Ace/All Might, Portgas D. Ace/Yagi Toshinori
Series: Crack Pairings [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130867
Comments: 14
Kudos: 138
Collections: Home of Magnificent Fanfiction





	sometimes you get a second chance but you waste it partially (because you’re stupid) and that’s okay

There’s a certain kinda personality that parents want in their children, Ace believes. Some personalities are widely known as bad, like if they spit a lot and stuff, and some are coveted. Honestly, Ace doesn’t much see the point in wishing for anything in unborn children; the chance that personality or even intellectual abilities will be... gotten, is generally low.

He’s put a lot of thought into it, which says something he reckons because he doesn’t put much thought into anything — according to Dadan, anyway.

(Maybe he’s just focusing on this because it’s his new family in particular that want a lot from him.)

The thing is, he isn’t a 'good personality type.' He’s Ace, and what Ace is, is destructive and loud and not always that smart when it comes to some things. Oh, he’s driven, sure, he understands that; but unlike what his new mum wants from him, he is in no way a mathematical genius; hell, he isn’t scientifically, humanities, or literately... uh, good.

While parents generally want these qualities from their children — he thinks based on his new family anyway, it’s not like he talks to other people about parenting a lot — he is far from what one can call the ‘perfect child.’ Because while some children want to 'make things of themselves,' according to his mum and dad, Ace is fully focused on piracy.

It’s not like he’s necessarily _different_ or _special_. He’s just not interested in what his parents want him to be interested in. And when he makes clear that he isn’t going to become some fancy doctor — he wouldn’t enjoy that at all — his parents get angry. They tell him piracy is stupid. But that's nothing new, so he takes it with a straight face and shrugging shoulders. Who cares what they think.

There are many reasons why Ace wants to be a pirate.

He wants to be a pirate because he was one before. He wants to be a pirate because pirates are free, and his family are pirates. Were pirates.

Fact is, he can’t imagine being anything else. He doesn’t care about being rich, he doesn’t care that much for bringing his family honour or whatever. Let his new mum and dad want and say what they will; they’re not his real parents. He doesn’t think they even like him, which is fine, because he doesn’t like them.

They remind him too much of nobles. They’re rich and posh and annoying and Ace just misses the life of living on a pirate ship.

The people at school don’t like him either.

They see him, and they see him immediately for what he is. Ace doesn’t get along with kids, mostly because he isn’t one. And so when they come up to him spouting declarations of friendship, he runs. Socialising is much easier with adults. He used to think that kids were so easy to talk to, but that was probably because back then he was an adult, so he was treated and respected differently from the get-go. 'Cos he was older, and they saw that.

Now when he’s an adult in a kid's body, they see him as strange. He doesn’t understand them, and so they don’t understand him.

So he doesn’t like kids. And he doesn’t like school.

Mum said that he’s supposed to do school for twelve more years.

Ace, to put it simply, can’t be fucked.

Which brings him to now.

“I’m telling you!” He argues, “I don’t need to go to school. I know what I need to know, okay? I don't need anything else!"

“We can’t homeschool you, Ace,” Mum says from behind the kitchen counter. She’s cutting vegetables and putting them into a pot beside her. She likes to cook, and does so frequently. Right now she’s testing out some new recipe. “You need to get a good job, and it’s required by law to go to school, you know. Mummy and daddy don't have the time. Besides! People who are homeschooled don’t get good jobs. And Acey, you’re five. If you don’t like it now, you will later.”

He will not.

(As kids around him age, he will too.)

He’s an anomaly in this world. He is not meant to exist.

(That’s something that’s carried on from his last life.)

But if he is to exist, because he doesn’t have much of a choice in it, he will not spend twelve more years in the shithole called the education system.

Whatever happened to just chucking a kid outside and hoping they didn't die? It worked with him and Luffy, didn’t it?

“I’m not going to get a ‘good job.’” He tells her, “you know how I am! Just don’t bother —“

“You’re going to school, Ace.” She interrupts him. “My goodness, I have no idea where you got your attitude recently! Your daddy and I were never like you.”

Ace rubs his nose. "I’m not you or dad.”

“No. Unfortunately, you’re not.”

And that sums up the relationship he has with his parents.

Ace hates the world he was born into. It has nothing on his old one; it doesn't have the Grand Line. It doesn’t have _Luffy or Sabo._ It’s interesting in some aspects, sure; quirks for example, but other than that it’s so boring. And annoying, and... not _his_ at all.

He isn’t even allowed to use his quirk in public.

(According to his parents, he’s not allowed to use it in the house either. But that can't be right because he knows for a fact that some of the kids in his class use their quirks at home — the kids that have one yet — and he knows this because they never stop talking.)

But... even if it's a shitty new world, he's decided to stick around for a bit anyway. Because Ace believes that Pops and the Whitebeard pirates are with him in this new place. Somewhere.

And yeah, he knows that’s kind of weird to believe, but he just knows somewhere deep down that they’re here with him.

The thought both terrifies and excites him.

And it doesn’t pass. When he had gained his memories the second he turned four, the belief that they were reborn somewhere nearby was strong. A part of him knows that it will never go away until he finds them again.

So even if he wants to leave, he can’t. He won’t. He wants to see them again. They won’t want to see him again, he knows this, but even if it’s at a distance he wants to see them again because they’re _his_ _family_.

He doesn’t get this place. At all. There are so many rules, so many laws, and this time he’s expected to obey them else people will imprison him — and no, this time he doesn’t have a chance of getting away — well he could try, but the possibility is low — because there are ‘ _professionals_ ’ who are qualified enough to get him. _Everywhere_. And right now, he’s practically powerless.

Think Admirals at every corner.

Even if he has a quirk. Honestly, it’s useless. He’s back at square one, and while he can swim — he checked, not on purpose — he can’t use his quirk to the level of awesomeness he did in his old world.

Nope! He even struggles to vanish his legs into flames now, as if that's supposed to be _hard_. And he can’t practice by sneaking out, because he’s _tried_ that. His new family is rich. His new family has people following him around everywhere, and since they're allowed to practice unlike him, they can easily beat him down.

Ever since he gained awareness, when he was four, it's been this way. Having a ‘psychotic’ breakdown and bringing down half of their two-story house (while crying about people who his parents had (and have) no idea about) is a bad move to pull. Now it’s like everyone is constantly waiting for when he’ll snap again.

He won’t.

He’s better than that, he’s twenty as well as five, but it’s not as if they know that. Instead, they treat him like the toddler he apparently is.

(And don’t think that Ace doesn’t know that they send him to school for another reason. They send him there because it’s a glorified daycare, and they won’t have to see him as much. They don’t like him that much.)

It’s fair. Like he’s said before, Ace doesn’t like his new family either.

Ace doesn’t know how Sabo handled it. Well, he does actually; Sabo ran away, but Ace can’t do that because again — he’s always followed.

(He’s tried so many times to run away, but he can never win.)

This new place is so boring. You’d think that if people all gained powers, then things would get interesting, but nope. They had to add laws against every-day quirk use, so now it’s just boring and ridiculous.

He walks down the stairs to the front door, and clenches and unclenches his fists.

He has to go to school today, which means people looking in his general direction and humiliating activities and constant ‘baby-voices’ aimed at him and not much else.

When the familiar body-guard with bright blue hair follows Ace down the sidewalk, he wants to roll his eyes. Ace carefully doesn't do anything that can be seen as suspicious.

He’s broken the law before, don’t get him wrong.

He’s set fire to classrooms countless times, and on one memorable occasion, set fire to his teacher’s wig and revealed her bald head. He felt kind of bad after that one.

He hasn’t given up on his dreams of piracy, and he’s not going to, but now he lives in a much more confined environment that watches his every footstep and it's — _fuck_! It’s so annoying!

He’s trapped here, in this world. And it _sucks_.

(But he has to stick it out long enough to find his family again. So he can’t go to prison. Or kid prison, which his dad says exists, but he might be lying.)

_He has to find his family one day_. He needs to _apologise_.

(Actually, he has a good chance of going to prison and finding his family there but that isn’t the point — he can find them better from outside prison, he reckons.)

He may be five, and his options might be limited, and his home life is a bit of a snooze, but he has to keep going.

(Even if it’s fucking hard. He’s broken his promise to Luffy, his self-respect levels aren’t exactly high. He doesn’t want to live that much if at all. But he needs to see them again. He needs to. To thank them, to... anything. He needs someone. He doesn’t want to be alone.)

Even if he’s in a new chaotic city environment, even if he’s constantly surrounded by his mum and dad or his guards, he feels just like he did when he lived alone in the forest all those years ago, before he met Sabo or Luffy.

(He feels lonely.)

..

It’s shit.

..

Ace looks at a new edition of the phone-book of Japan, but he can’t bring himself to open it and search for his family members within it. His new mum has told him how it works, so he bought it with his pocket money — it's so weird that he gets that now.

It’s not like he thinks that it’s some form of cheating, because he doesn’t care about cheating, but it’s more like he feels physically sick at the idea of talking to his family again.

It’s like he wants to see them again, but he doesn’t want them to see him. He’s too ashamed of what he is to want anyone but him to see it.

He misses them, but he doesn’t know if he wants to find them or not. He does. But... it's confusing, he guesses,

In this life, his full name is the same. There’s a chance that other people have the same names too. But what if they don’t? What if he gets it wrong?

(What if they hear the sound of his voice and hang up, what if they start to talk about how awful they used to find him —)

They wouldn’t do that.

(They might.)

He doesn’t — he doesn’t know!

He puts the phone-book down and steps away.

..

Sometimes he hears himself think that he will never talk to his family members again because he’s too ashamed of who he is and what he’s done. Sometimes he reckons that even if he does find them all again, he won’t talk to them or even let them know he’s here, because of those same reasons.

Some days he lies in bed and stares at the ceiling and his mind is so busy that he can’t go to sleep. When he is six, his narcolepsy appears, and it’s worse than before. The medication doesn’t work with him.   
  
  


He needs to find someone. He needs to do something. He needs to open that phone book (he wont).

..

“I’m becoming a pro-hero!” Ace declares to his dad, the day after he turns ten.

“No the fuck you’re not.”

Ace pauses and stares up at him with his usual glare. His dad turns a page of his newspaper without looking up.

“Yes the fuck I am. It’s a ‘respectable job,’ isn’t it?”

He doesn’t see the problem in it. Pro heroes are respected. Better than that, they get looser law regulations regarding their quirk.

Better than THAT, he gets to punch people again, and it won’t be followed with paperwork. Fuck paperwork.

The amount of paperwork he's gotten in his life so far should be illegal. He's ten, but every day at school he gets paper and paper and more paper.

He’s decided that it’ll be easier to find his family from a job like being a pro-hero. Pro-heroes are everywhere, and Ace knows that he’ll need to be everywhere to find his family. He also might get access to certain records. Not to mention, being a pro-hero can be anonymous work. If he finds a family member, he doesn't have to let them know it's him.

“I am not subjecting the citizens of this city to you,” his dad says in his permanent monotone. “You’re impolite — I haven’t heard any aspect of manners from you since before you turned four — you’re brash, you’re too threatening — the list goes on, Ace. You’re not suited to being a pro-hero, and that’s that.”

“I can be polite,” Ace replies. “See?” He fixes a smile onto his face, but his dad doesn’t bother to look up.

“I’m sure,” his dad draws out. “You’re not becoming one, Ace. Your quirk is too destructive.”

Ace sits down on the couch next to him and relaxes against one of the plush pillows. “How do you know that? You haven’t seen it since, like, forever.”

“And that was enough. You’d be sent out to rescue a cat, and you’d come back with several arson charges under your belt.”

Incorrect. Arson is _intentional_ fire-setting, Ace would do it _accidentally_. Probably. Key difference. “You won’t let me practice! I can get better, I swear. Hell, I’ll learn manners and all that. You’d both be proud of me.”

He’s always been capable of using manners and being polite and shit. Most of the time he just doesn’t bother; besides, he reckons he’s polite enough without hyper-focusing on it. He hasn’t sworn at his dad more than his dad’s sworn at him. So really, if anyone should be perfecting their manners, he reckons his dad should give it a go.

“Our family would be a laughing stock. You're incapable.” He turns to another page of his newspaper.

“Wanna bet?” Ace challenges his dad.

At that, his dad lowers down his newspaper. This speaks a lot of his dad’s faith in him. Perhaps he does realise that Ace is capable on some level of being polite, but after years of trying to negotiate to make Ace try and improve himself, he’s eventually given up.

So now, he’s heard Ace suggest a bargain himself, and Ace knows this. Ace, like he’s said, has always been capable. It’s not like it’s hard.

So whether his dad believes it or not, by suggesting a bargain himself, Ace has already won, and he practically has his pro-hero career in the bag and he hasn’t even suggested the whole deal yet.

Ace smiles at him. “I’ll get better at manners and politeness and shit, and then you’ll let me become a pro-hero. And apply at UA and all that.”

Again, it speaks a lot for his family and Ace’s personality that his dad considers this.

(There’s a personality type that all parents look for, actively or not, in their children, and Ace has never been that type.)

“How about,” his dad suggests, “you’ll perfect your politeness to the standards of our family, as well as your grades, and then and only then will I allow you to apply for UA.”

Ace beams, this time for real. “Deal!” He grabs his dad’s hand and shakes it, and his dad slowly brings his hand back after to cradle his newspaper again.

As he said, as soon as Ace had suggested it, his dad had agreed.

This will be easy. Again. Ace already knows how to be polite, most of the time he just doesn’t bother. His grades are the only problem. He will have to study. After all, no, he doesn't know the course material despite his superior age, because he didn’t go to school in his past life.

“One last thing,” his dad says before Ace can successfully run up the stairs back to his room. “Don’t tell your mother.”

Ace doesn’t get that, but he agrees anyway.

..

“Thank you very much,” he says to the telemarketer on the family phone later that week. “But we’ll have to respectfully decline your offer. Have a lovely day.” He pauses, “of course, bye.”

His mum looks to be halfway to having an attack. His dad smiles a secret smile and turns to his spontaneous decision of lazily rearranging the furniture.

“Ace?” His mum draws out, “are you okay, honey?”

“I’m perfectly alright,” he tells her. “Now, I must go to my bedroom. I will see you later at dinner, good day.”

He hears a light whispered, “what the fuck” as he passes, followed by the sound of his dad breaking down into hysterics. It’s then that the reason for his dad asking for his silence on the bet clicks. “Danny, what the _fuck_?”

You know, maybe Ace doesn’t really dislike his new family.

Sometimes they’re okay.

"Danny, stop laughing. _Danny, what the fuck was that_?"

..

A year later, Ace’s grades are at the top of his year. Usually, that might be impressive, but Ace is actually older than everyone in his school including some of the teachers, so it’s not really. But according to his parents, it is, because one day his dad sits him down next to his mum, and Ace knows what’s coming. He's already smiling.

“So am I allowed to practice to become a pro-hero?” He questions them politely.

“I’ve talked with your mum about it, and she’s alright with it. Your attitude and grades are up to par. Congratulations,” he then goes into a long tirade about training instructions because heaven forbid Ace not be the best student at UA to enroll.

Ace grins.

..

He spends five years studying and searching for his family members. While walking outside anyway, he refuses to pick up the phone book. Some part of him just shrugs away from the idea of it.

On one hand, his skills increase drastically, as well as his control. While he isn’t as powerful as he was before, which might be attributed to the lack of Haki, he reckons he’s still better than other people his age. Marginally, because he hasn’t truly practiced since before the age of ten, but still better nonetheless.

(It comes with a rich family and top-notch training instructors and prior-knowledge of possible abilities.)

On the other hand, he has no luck finding his family members. He looks around at his school and neighbouring schools, but he can never find anyone familiar. He never sees anyone nearby on the streets either. Sometimes he half expects someone to yell out his name and call him over, but it never happens.

He lives a lonely existence. He misses his family and his older brothers and sisters. But at least his dad and mum are with him because it turns out they’re not that bad. He hadn’t given them a chance before, because he wanted his other family and his new one at first glance just seemed stuck up but now that he spends more time around them, he’s grown to like them. 

If he does end up becoming a pirate again, he’ll send them letters.

..

He participates in the UA entrance exam.

He gets in.

He spends three years there and graduates as a pro-hero.

(He finds no one familiar. He graduates proudly but is devastated. Perhaps his conviction that his family had awakened with him is wrong.)

His parents are prouder of him than he is of himself.

He is powerful.

He is still lonely.

..

Ace is not a top hero, mainly because he never wanted to be. He wanted to become a hero to achieve freedom, and he got some measure of that. He doesn’t care for fame this time around, which is good because while he may be popular, he’s not as famous as most pro-heroes anyway. It means less pressure.

He has fan pages, sure, but they're rare and most of them don’t have too much detail or knowledge about him due to his lack of participation in UA renown events when he was younger — there are simply just more interesting heroes around, apparently, and he’s fine with that.

People think he’s cool, sure, but there are people who they can more easily aim their affections at.

However, at the age of twenty (for the second time), he starts to regret not being a well-known hero.

And the reason for this is because he recognises one of his family members robbing a bank, one of his family members from his old world, and perhaps if he had become well-known, they wouldn’t be doing that. He starts to regret the whole anonymous thing.

But nope, they are. They are robbing a bank.

One of his family members. Robbing a bank.

One of his family members, Marco, is a villain.

Ace wants to cry for many reasons.

“Put down the money,” he tells Marco in his masked modified voice. He’s trying his hardest to not cry, and unfortunately, he reckons that aspect isn’t masked. Some civilians are looking at Ace, and he can tell he’s being judged. But he can’t help it. It’s been years since he’s seen Marco last. He's sniffling.

He misses him.

And he doesn’t care that people are looking at him right now. He doesn’t care, because, after all this time, he has done it. He has validation that he’s not alone. He’s found someone.

So yes, he’s crying a bit. So fucking what?

“And why should I do that?” Marco, to his credit, seems unfazed at the fact that some unknown hero is starting to tear up in front of him.

“Mostly because it’s illegal,” Ace somehow chokes out. “And because it’s uh — excuse me,” he lets out a large sob, “it’s unethical and,” he’s about to let Marco know that it’s him when Marco suddenly straightens up with his widely renown poker face and socks him in the stomach.

Which isn’t very nice. Ace sniffles. The civilians nearby are staring.

And then Marco turns into a phoenix and flies away. With the money.

And, well, “shit.”

..

The media has a field day.

It wasn't the reunion Ace had been hoping for. Marco didn't know it was him. But Ace knew that Marco was with him, so he's happy.

He's happy that after these twenty extra years, he's finally achieved his goal. From a distance -- kind of — he's found someone else.

But some part of him, a big part of him, doesn't feel accomplished. He tells that part of him off.

..

“Why do you call him ‘Pops.’?”

..

His status as a somewhat unknown hero isn’t exactly ruined, but now people start to recognise him as the one who broke down at a bank robbery for apparently no good reason.

Not that he cares, people will forget about it eventually. Besides, no one recognises him out of costume anyway, and when he’s in costume, he’s legally allowed to retaliate (to mocking villains) with casual violence.

So his reputation ends up going unfalteringly onwards as an alright guy because again, people don’t focus on him that much, but it’s still a slip-up nonetheless.

The most important thing of note is that Marco is with him in this new place... and that Marco is a villain. Ace doesn’t resent Marco for punching him in the stomach. He's more upset that for some fucking reason he became a villain. What's up with that? Shouldn't he have become a pirate or something?

Ace became a hero because it was convenient for him. But he doesn't get why Marco became a villain.

He’s not alone, yet he is at the same time. He has mixed feelings on the issue.

..

“Hey, you’re that hero — uhh, _Flame_ I think your name was, who cried when he met my brother!”

Ace is once again close to crying. Just a little bit this time; the shock seems to have passed a bit since meeting Marco. Thatch is smiling down at him from the top of a building, very much alive and very much here with him. Ace has found another family member, this one merely five months after the last one he found.

Ace scrunches up his face, not that Thatch can see it. “I swear to hell if anyone else brings that up again I’m burning their face off!”

Thatch laughs and casually leans forward against the banister. The street they’re in is deserted, as it’s a quiet neighbourhood street at a very late time at night. Ace had been passing through on his way home.

“Ha,” Thatch snorts, “aren’t heroes supposed to be noble? Like that, eh, like that new one All Might.”

Ace frowned. What? Like all marines were noble? “I’m not blond, for one.” Thatch grins at his response, “and besides, I don’t need to be like All Might. We already have one of him.”

All Might is a new hero who had graduated the year before him. He is steadily moving up the ranks, and Ace doesn’t mind the man much; he’s nice and heroic and everything, but to be compared to him during his first encounter with his brother in seventeen years is annoying.

Thatch is here, and alive. Ace is doing his best to not sniffle. Thankfully his mask covers his facial expressions, as well as his face, so he doesn’t have to bother to keep his face blank so he doesn’t get teased.

“That’s fair,” Thatch says. “Besides, my family seems to like you as you are.”

Ace freezes.

“You're brought up a lot —“

“— you have a whole family?” He can possibly take this as proof that all of the Whitebeard's are here, and in one area together.

“I mean, most people do,” Thatch says. “But anyway, after your interaction with Phoenix, my entire family has been on the lookout for you. I’m glad that I could find you first. Heh, bragging rights.”

Ace doesn’t know what to say. He wants to ask if the family Thatch is talking about is Ace’s family too.

He wants to ask why they want to find him, he wants to ask if they know who he is.

“We’re all villains, you know —“

Ace chokes.

“So,” Thatch continues with a grin, “we’re all looking to commit crimes within your general vicinity. Funny, eh?”

But why him? And —

“Your family are all villains?” Ace shrieks, absolutely flabbergasted. “All of them? Every single one of them? How many?” He cradles his head with his arms,

Thatch scratches his head demurely, “well I don’t think I was meant to tell you any of that, so uh... yeah, so I’m not going to tell you how many. Anyway —“

“You can’t just do that and not explain! Hey! Come back!”

Thatch looks amused. “I have to go.”

Ace freezes and lifts his head to look at him, “wait—“

“Nice making fun of you, Cry-Guy!”

But Thatch is gone.

In the silent neighbourhood, Ace fights back tears on the way back to his apartment.

Apparently, his brothers had awakened and all simultaneously decided to become villains. Maybe it was to get a fuller version of freedom — who knows?

The problem is that now his brothers and Ace are on opposing sides. They have all decided that becoming villains was their best option, and unfortunately, Ace hadn’t gotten the memo.

Wait a minute — ‘Cry-Guy?’ That's the _worst fucking nickname Ace has ever heard! Are they fucking kidding? It's not even funny_. If Ace was there, he'd be able to find a much better nickname.

If Ace was with them...

(And they don’t know that Ace is here with them. They don’t even know Ace is him. Underneath this mask, it's him.)

Thatch came to tease him, and Ace well and truly feels teased.

..

The next day is busy for him. A bunch of heroes is gathering to discuss the presence of a, particularly allusive villain organisation. Ace has been invited by top heroes, so he is expected to come. Upholding standards or whatever.

So now he’s in his official costume, mask, cowboy hat, shorts, lack of shirt and all.

But unfortunately, due to certain revelations, it’s an hour before the actual meeting and Ace is sitting in a chair in the waiting lobby, waiting to be invited in, and struggling to avoid a mental breakdown.

Really, how stupid is he? Of course his family would become villains. Becominb a pro-hero, despite getting freedom through some aspects, is still restrictive! And his family are all pirates, for god sakes — there’s no way they’d willingly follow the laws of some new unknown government. Why the hell did he? Why the hell is he?

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

After this meeting, maybe if he were loved by his family, he'd leave. But who says they'll take him back?

“Hello! Are you alright, Flame?”

He is very much not alright.

Regardless, he turns his head up and meets eyes with none other than All Might, the person Ace and his brother had been discussing the day before. Despite Ace being known for his politeness and general good-natured personality, he's not feeling up to slotting into his fun-loving persona.

“Nah, I feel like shit,” he replies truthfully. What's the part of lying anyway, he's always found it unnecessary. He then realises that he’s talking to a human person, and he awkwardly apologises. “I just, well, family issues and... sorry about that. It’s... yeah. Sorry.”

A hero nearby looks over and blinks owlishly. Ace doesn’t bother to look at or acknowledge them.

“Ah, that’s a shame!” All Might says. He doesn't look offended in the slightest. All Might, after replying, then decides to sit next to Ace for whatever reason, maybe 'cos he’s the type of guy to like subjecting himself to being nearby people who are not in the mood for social interaction.

Whatever. Ace doesn’t care.

“Would you like to talk about it?”

That’s probably not the best idea. Frustrated with his family or not, he doesn’t want to put targets on their backs. Actually, by fully confessing to everything, he might be putting a target on his own back. Maybe he'd be put in a mental hospital.

“Probably not the best idea,” Ace says. “Family drama, you know, gotta love it.”

All Might good-naturedly pats his shoulder. Ace’s entire body moves forward an inch. All Might, compared to Ace, isn’t that much taller, but he’s stronger, which Ace chalks up to his quirk.

“There there,” All Might says.

He feels weird in his stomach and looks away. Ace rubs his neck awkwardly. “Thanks,” he offers.

..

A while later they sit down for a meeting, and a slideshow is set up before them. A picture of Whitebeard and many of his siblings together is shown to them and a bunch of other elite heroes, and Ace immediately feels worse.

He proceeds to blank out for the next two hours.

..

“And you thought I couldn’t do it,” he brags, “eat this! Haha, I’m going to become the best hero ever and I’m going to be awesome!”

His dad looks at his mum and snorts. She playfully nudges his arm.

..

Ace walks out of the meeting with a tired expression, not that anyone can see it.

He hates this. He’s practically taken on the role of Marco by default; now he has to watch their backs all the time. He preferred it when he was the one causing trouble.

When he walks out, he notices All Might casually walking out next to him, so he pulls him aside and waits for the general crowd of pro-heroes to pass.

Once they’re alone in a nearby alleyway, he looks up at All Might and peels off his mask, to All Might’s shock and confusion. No one but his class, teachers, and parents know about his identity, and they're sworn to secrecy. Ace can’t bring himself to care about his identity being revealed — his mask feels stuffy, so off it comes.

“Can you please do me a favour, All Might?” He asks without acknowledgment of the mask coming off.

“Of course, Flame!” All Might, despite being pulled aside and then having a hero reveal their identity to them in an alleyway, doesn’t seem that put off.

He’s basically a marine now. If Gramps was here, he’d be laughing his ass off.

"Actually. This is an odd request, but would you like to get coffee with me? It’s been a long... week, and I think companionship might be nice.”

Marco had once suggested to Ace that instead of isolating himself when he’s in a bad mood, he should surround himself with people. In Marco’s honour, Ace is doing just that. Problem is that his parents are both in Australia on some business trip, and he doesn’t have any friends. So apparently All Might is the next best option.

He seems nice, anyway.

All Might looks genuinely pleased. “I would love to!”

Ace musters up a smile back.

..

He misses Luffy and Sabo. Sabo would know what to do.

Luffy would tell him to quit his job and immediately become a villain.

But... he doesn’t want to quit. Call him stupid, but he likes it because he feels kind of safe and the pay is good and his parents are proud of him (he has parents this time and sometimes that realisation gets him off guard).

He knows that being a villain would help him be free, but.

He’s free as a hero too. He’s just not with his family, and the types of freedom are kind of different.

He still won’t try to become famous or anything. He doesn't want to stand in front of a crowd.

But Ace likes it here. He likes his apartment and living in a populated city with people who don’t run or look at him weirdly when he’s nearby.

Before, they sometimes had to deal with the recognition of their pirate status a lot but not always — because there were different islands, and some islands didn’t know who they were.

Sometimes when they didn’t know who they were, they were treated neutrally and as pirates, it was like a holiday.

But now, he doesn’t have different islands to turn to. Technology means that all islands and all countries know who he is, so he can’t just run away if he becomes wanted or a villain.

No, now being a villain means being constantly on the move and constantly hiding, and Ace just doesn’t know if he can do that all the time.

He likes a hectic life, and being a hero lets him have that. And now, as a hero, since the worlds are different and technology is different, it just works out that he’s more comfortable as a hero than a villain. Luffy would be disappointed.

He’s not Luffy. He’d let Luffy become a villain if he wanted to, but Ace isn’t Luffy and Ace is okay with being a hero.

Sabo would know what to do.

But Ace isn’t Sabo either, and Sabo isn’t here.

..

All Might is kind of cute. When Ace buys him a coffee — he had asked for All Might to come with him, after all — All Might splutters and turns pink. They sit down in an isolated corner, where no civilians can see them unless they walk up super close.

In the end, All Might accepts the coffee that Ace pays for.

“So,” All Might says, “what do you think about the meeting?”

Ace blinks. He didn't pay much attention to the meeting. On entering, he had seen images of his family and then had immediately zoned out which meant that he can only remember certain glimpses of faces and cash prizes. He thinks there was a mouse at the meeting, but that’s about all he remembers.

Oh, right! Someone had tequila in their water bottle. He remembers that. They sat next to him and he could smell it.

“There was... a lot of people there.” Nice one, Ace.

“Indeed!” He laughs, “Fountain,” Fountain is the hero who organised the meeting. He is somewhere in the top ten, but is rumoured to be retiring in the next couple of years, “organised quite a selection of people! I was rather confuzzled when I was invited to a meeting, but now I understand! The Whitebeard Crew seems capable. Not to worry, I’m sure our group of heroes will be able to handle them!”

Christ, they called themselves the Whitebeard Crew. They’re shitty at names, and that realisation makes Ace feel oddly melancholy. Really, whatever happened to the Whitebeard Pirates? He wonders why they decided to change it.

Well at least if he needed any validation of what he thought Thatch was referring to when he mentioned his family, he has it now. They're all here. His weird feeling was right.

Ace takes a large sip of his coffee.

Fuck it. Usually, Ace tries to eat less in public because it, in the words of some waiter down in Tokyo, ‘disturbed guests,’ but today he just can’t bring himself to care. He’s not in full costume anyway, so it’s not like people will recognise him. All Might doesn't seem like the type to mind. The rest of his clothing is discrete, the mask has always been the only eye-catching thing. And the fact that sometimes he just doesn't bother with a shirt. He's supposed to wear a shirt, but he doesn't like shirts so most of the time he doesn't show up in one and waits for the lecture.

He orders food when a waitress chooses then to pass, and All Might orders a muffin after Ace’s tirade of dishes without blinking. This new quirk age means that some people have weird eating habits, so it's not something to be phased about. It's more about how Ace eats the food more than anything.

“I think it might be more difficult than you’d think,” Ace suggests finally. “The Whitebeard Crew seems to be kinda strong; you know, hence the meeting. I wouldn’t let your guard down if I were you.”

“You’ve fought them before?”

Not in this life.

Ace shrugs, “I mean, not really but also yes at the same time. I had an... encounter, which was probably why I was invited to the meeting.”

“An encounter?”

He laughs, “did you hear a few months back about that hero that just kinda stared weirdly at Phoenix when they went to stop a bank robbery? That was me.”

“Ah.”

Ace laughs a bit harder at All Might’s expression. All Might grows flustered and quickly apologises, but Ace waves it off.

“You know, I think it’s a bit weird they invited me,” Ace ponders aloud, “I think they invited me so that I could get revenge or whatever. In reality, I don’t care.”

“Why not?” It’s a valid question. Heroes seem to care about revenge a lot more than they should.

Ace falters. He then scratches his neck and looks away, “it’s uh — Phoenix seems kinda nice for a villain, so...”

That is a lie, Phoenix punched him. Dick. But Ace can’t exactly explain that since Phoenix is Marco, and therefore also his brother, he doesn’t care about getting revenge. It wasn't like Marco knew who he was punching when he punched Ace.

“A ‘nice’ villain?” All Might looks a bit confused.

“Well, okay that sounds weird but, nice villains exist. It’s like, bad heroes exist. People aren’t all evil or all good. It’s — okay, so hypothetically, picture two groups of pirates. One could be all pillage and rape and be general assholes, and another could be pirates that aim instead to be free and to travel the world.

“So I guess the general population would call them both assholes because they’re both pirates, but they’re not really. It’s just easier to group them since... I don’t know, they both sail in ships.”

He blinks at Ace. “Doesn’t it depend on what ‘freedom’ is to the second group of pirates? What if it contained property damage in their idea of freedom? In that case, despite what they both do, both groups of pirates are bad. Perhaps one less so."

Ace doesn’t get this world’s idea of ethics. “What if they do property damage for a good reason?”

“Then, alike when a pro hero does a lot of property damage, they should be charged. People should work on bettering their control. Civilians could get hurt."

The waitress comes by and puts down All Might’s muffin and a few of Ace’s dishes. She then walks away, and Ace watches her while wondering how to reply.

“Yeah, what I'm trying to say is that last thing you said there. Even if Phoenix is a villain, he’s not that bad of a villain. I think he’s capable of making decisions to help people, he just doesn’t due to whatever reason. And if his family is like him, then that would mean that even if they’re villains, they’re not that bad. I don’t think that they needed to call a meeting on them. He looked like he didn't want to harm people, and that's defining.”

"Didn't he attack you?"

"Yeah, but I can't blame him for that since I'm a hero and all. Heroes get punched by villains all the time! He didn't hurt civvies is what I mean."

The last of the dishes arrive.

All Might scratches his chin and politely ignores how Ace is demolishing the dishes in front of him between words. “Good people make bad decisions,” he says eventually. “That does not mean that they should get away with no consequences.”

Ace accepts that and takes an extra-large bite out of a sandwich. “Okay,” Ace agrees, “but just because he punched me and all that doesn’t mean that I want to give him more consequences as a result. It’s not personal, I don’t care.”

“Ah, I see.”

Ace smiles then, and leans back in his chair comfortably. “I’m Ace, by the way. Thank you for keeping me company, I appreciate it.”

All Might looks flustered, “ah, well, it’s no problem. You’re um, you’re good company!”

He dramatically swoons in response and cradles his face, “you’re my hero!”

All Might turns bright red, and Ace sends him an entertained grin. All Might is kind of cute, he reckons. It’s pretty easy to get along with the man; that’s most likely why he’s so popular.

Ace finishes off his last plate of food and stacks the empty plates up neatly so that the waitress can gather them up easier when she’ll come by later. All Might is also done with his muffin, so he puts his own plate neatly on top of one of the stacks.

“Here,” Ace says suddenly. He digs into his pocket and draws out a pen, and then writes his number unceremoniously onto a serviette. Ace passes it over to All Might with a quick thumbs up. He turns before he can see a reaction, and bounces off to the counter to pay.

When he comes back, All Might is standing up and waiting for him. Ace grins and gestures for him to follow him out of the cafe. All Might smiles and waves to a few civilians who start to stare at him, and signs someone’s hat when they pass it over.

They start to crowd around him, Ace stands nearby, thoroughly entertained. This is why being famous seems bad. The crowd of civilians takes a while to ease up, and all the while All Might appears calm and collected. It’s a drastic change from when Ace was teasing him, and he finds that amusing.

All Might comes up to him apologetically. “Sorry about that,” he says with a short laugh, “it tends to happen occasionally when I’m in costume.”

“Bet you’re regretting not becoming a lesser-known hero now, huh?”

All Might smiles at him. “I don’t mind this,” he contradicts him. “I like to encourage civilians. If signing things and taking photos with them makes them happy, then I’m happy too. I don’t mind being popular, as long as I’m a good hero!” He puffs himself up, “I will try my best to be worthy of my popularity!”

Ace grins. Yeah, All Might is super cute. His family will love him; both of his families.

..

Ace comes home with a large goofy grin on his face, two hours of socialising under his belt, and All Might’s name and contact on his phone.

After the meal, All Might had told him his name. Toshinori Yagi.

It feels great to have a friend.

..

The next time Ace comes across a family member, a mere week later, he’s not as tearful as the first few times. He’s more annoyed than anything else.

“Okay,” he tells the man across from him, “you do not need that much confetti. _Nobody_ needs that much confetti.”

Haruta grins. “You don’t know that.” His arms are somehow capable of holding three large boxes of confetti, neatly stacked on top of each other. Ace is guessing that Haruta’s quirk is gravity-based, he has no other explanation as to how the boxes aren’t toppling out of his hands.

“Why?” He says, “just, why?”

“It’s Pop’s birthday next month — we can’t just have some regular old party, Cry-guy!”

“I swear to —“ seriously? Cry-guy? It stuck?

“ —So, see yah!” Haruta starts to run away, and Ace seems to be cursed because once again another family member is far away, and he's alone again.

Ace stands alone in a party warehouse and sighs. There's confetti on his shoulders. This is a new low, really.

..

_Toshinori_ : Hello, Ace!!! \ (•◡•) /

Ace smiles at the new message.

_Ace_ : hello, toshi!

_Toshinori_ : How are you doing?

_Ace_ : pretty good! and you? what’s up?

_Toshinori_ : I’m good! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ Would you like to do a patrol in #### with me?

_Ace_ : sure

Ace exchanges details, and goes outside in his hero outfit.

..

“‘Ello,” Ace floats to Toshinori’s side without warning in a cloud of fire, and in response, All Might (since Ace has just realised he's in costume) jumps a foot in the air. Ace chuckles at his flabbergasted expression and slowly merges back into himself. A final whisp of fire makes up his left foot, and he puts his hands on his hips while waiting for All Might to stop gaping.

“So _that’s_ your quirk,” he mutters, mostly to himself.

“Well, I’m not called Flame for nothing. You didn't even give me a quick Google?" Ace teases him. “Yo, so is there anything we’re checking out in particular or are we just walking around?”

All Might clears his throat and his signature grin spreads across his face. He extends a thumbs up, “today we’re going to be watching a nearby company storage centre, as I’ve received an anonymous tip that someone is going to steal from there later this afternoon!”

Coolio. Ace nods and waits for All Might to start walking. They both start walking down the street while taking less crowded pathways.

“So...” Ace fills the silence that has started to fill the air, “is there anything, in particular, that’s stored in this storage centre?”

“Balloons.”

He sighs. Loudly.

Of course. That’s just fun. Party supplies — he’s getting Deja Vu.

“Is anything the matter, Flame?”

“I have an idea of who might be planning to rob that place.”

“You do?”

“I do.”

Unfortunately.

Ace swallows and starts to explain. “The Whitebeard Crew are apparently preparing for Whitebeard’s birthday. I tried to stop one of the members at a party warehouse yesterday. Can’t really think of any other villain who might want to steal balloons.”

All Might hums. “Do you think we should get back-up?”

“Doubt it,” Ace says. “Like at the warehouse, they’ll probably only send one or two people, and I’m sure we can deal with that.”

“I see.”

They keep on walking.

“So.” Ace once again breaks the silence with a grin. “You use cute emoticons when you text, huh?”

All Might smiles. “I like them!” He cheerfully says.

“Me too. It’s pretty cool to text someone who doesn’t use perfect grammar,” Ace muses out loud. “Whenever I text my parents, they do just that.”

“A lot of adults do that,” All Might says good-naturedly.

“Do they?” It’s not like Ace texts a lot of adults, so he’s genuinely curious. He also finds it funny that All Might talks as if they themselves are not adults.

“They do,” he says. Ace hums and starts to walk with his hands on his hips.

“I guess some people really like formality.” Like his parents.

All Might helpfully sticks out a thumbs up.

..

All Might jogs over to the side of the centre and subtly hides behind a wall to look through a window. Ace looks over his figure, somewhat amused. With the grace of someone who has already died before, he walks right past All Might and to the door right beside him.

The doors unlocked, so Ace steps inside.

“Flame!” All Might dramatically whispers after him.

Ace kindly steps back to meet All Might's eyes and raises one of his eyebrows. “We’ll have better luck hiding in here than on the edge of the building.”

He seems to get Ace’s reasoning and awkwardly squeezes through the door and locks it behind them.

Something feels off. Ace looks around, but he can’t spot anyone watching them, so maybe he left his clothes in the dryer or something.

He feels like he forgot something.

Well. _Anyway_.

They both simultaneously move over to a stack of boxes and sit behind them.

There’s an awkward minute of silence.

“So...” Ace draws out, “afternoon, huh?”

All Might nods sheepishly.

“It's been a while since I participated in a stakeout,” Ace leans close and shares a conspiratory grin. “Did you know that I’m banned from participating in these? You know, if you'd recorded your offer and asked the commission for permission to invite me, the commission would have said no.”

All Might makes a strangled noise.

“It’s alright though!” Ace cheers, “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission anyway. And besides, I’ve forgotten the reason I was banned, so it probably wasn’t that important!”

He pauses. “Wait no, that’s a lie,” Ace says suddenly. “I just remembered. It’s because I keep accidentally burning down everything. I don’t get why it’s such a big deal, as long as the job gets completed, right? It's not like I’m the only fire quirked person who has this problem, so they should’ve expected it and prepared accordingly. It’s not _my_ fault.”

All Might’s left eye twitches.

Ace hums. “So I brought snacks, you want any?”

All Might seems a bit preoccupied with his thoughts, so Ace just reaches into a bag that he has brought alone specifically for snack purposes, and pulls out a packet of gummy bears which he happily puts in All Might’s empty hand. All Might blinks and thanks him.

They both settle down and wait for the afternoon to come.

..

Hours pass.

..

“I hear someone,” All Might whispers to Ace. Ace freezes like an animal being spotlighted. He swallows the chip in his mouth and sends All Might a helpful thumbs up.

“...I’m just saying,” they overhear from the area whereabouts they came in from, “Pops doesn’t _care_ about confetti. _Or_ balloons. What he wants is _alcohol_ , that’s literally all he ever wants!”

“No, we need balloons!” Thatch’s voice rings out, “we need to give him a couple of last hurrahs before he kicks the bucket.”

“Thatch I swear to God _he’s not that old this time_. He’s _barely_ fifty, he’s not going to die tomorrow. Dumbass."

“Izo I thought you loved me.”

Ace exchanges a look with All Might, and they edge close to the edge of the pile of boxes they’re hiding behind to peer at two figures casually rifling through boxes.

“I question my love for you every day.” Izo pulls out a large deflated balloon and holds it up to the light of the warehouse. He hums and stretches it out to try and see what shape it is, and the pink balloon stretches in his fingers. “Oh,” Izo says after a while. “I see. It’s a penis.”

In Ace’s defence, his sense of humour has always been awful. He laughs immediately at Izo’s deadpan expression. All Might looks at him with wide eyes and makes shushing motions.

Ace decides to give it up as a lost cause. He’s never been good at these kinds of missions anyway.

He makes sure his fiery mask is in place neatly and steps out so that both of them can see his silhouette.

“Oh woah, it’s Cry-Guy!” Thatch cheers and Ace immediately fumes.

“Are you kidding me —“

“That’s Cry-Guy?” Izo seems to ask himself. He still has the pink balloon in his hands.

“It is!” Thatch helpfully answers.

“I'm not —“

Thatch looks him up and down and turns to Izo, “do you think we’re morally obligated to give him a hug or something? Because he cried before? Or do you think that would be too mocking? We don't want to be part of the whole uh — what did Vista call it? The 'toxic-masculinity' thing."

Izo tilts his head and waves the suggestion. “Let's not, but he could have this balloon?”

“Stop ignoring me!” Ace shouts loudly. “And I don’t want your balloon!”

Thatch holds up two balloons from a large box and shows them to Ace, “so do you think blue or red for a birthday party? For an ancient relic.”

The chef hat on Thatch’s head bursts into flame. Izo silently watches while Thatch struggles to put out the fire. Izo's head turns to follow Thatch's figure, which is running back and forth in panic.

Izo is still holding the pink balloon.

“I’m here to tell you to stop robbing this balloon factory,” Ace grumbles.

“Why?” Izo asks above Thatch’s panicking. He's turned his attention back to Ace.

“I’m paid to tell you that. I don't know.” There’s a shuffling noise behind Ace from the general direction of where All Might is hiding.

“That’s not very heroic.”

“Right. Well, it’s morally wrong too. And against the law and all that.”

“Laws are too restrictive,” Izo shrugs.

Can’t argue with that. Ace thinks of the many years of schooling he did and tries not to show discomfort on his face.

Thatch finally puts out the flame and sighs at the charred mess in his hands.

“I guess. Anyway, uh, stop? I know you can afford to buy balloons, your family robbed a bank around half a year ago.”

Thatch grumbles and doesn’t look over at him while answering, “Phoenix told us about your encounter. Yeah, we could.” Ace stares at him. “No fun in that, though.” Can't argue with that logic.

Ace is not the person to be fighting against their attitude for piracy and villainy. But All Might is currently undercover, and two people are waiting for him to say something, or for him to try and stop them. He didn’t plan this far ahead.

Anyway.

So. He starts to feel a bit faint.

No one can blame him for the fact that his body decides to conk out.

..

His eyes open and his mouth moves by itself to formulate his reply. “--But ethically your actions are wrong because oh uh hey—“ All Might is currently attempting to punch Izo while Thatch tries to punch him back. Thatch’s attempts at hurting All Might are not going very successfully.

“Ha, fuck.” He wonders how this happened. No one has noticed that he’s awake. He’s still standing but his wrists are tied together with twistable balloons.

He sighs and the balloons instantly get incinerated. The smell of melted plastic fills the air.

Ace gags.

All Might looks over and meets his eyes with a grin, “don’t worry Flame! I’ve got this.”

That’s what Ace is worried about. Despite his brothers being annoying as all hell, he would prefer for all the bones in their bodies to not be broken. Call it being the bigger person.

Ace watches Thatch and All Might exchange blows, and he sighs. Okay, that’s it.

He turns into fire and ignores the look on Izo and Thatch’s faces as he reforms to punch them both simultaneously in the nose. He’s too annoyed to even say anything at first. All Might looks at him, confused, and Ace acknowledges him briefly before turning to both Izo and Thatch, who are still attempting to fight aggressively. “No, stop punching I swear — oi, I will melt that sword you're holding don’t even try me.”

Izo glares at him, “who do you think you —“

His stomach is tied up in knots. When they had seen him reform, they had looked...

Something in him snaps into place.

(“Why do you call him ‘Pops.’?”)

He makes a decision.

“Stop!” Ace interrupts, “I need to tell you something so stay quiet for ten seconds.”

Thatch chuckles, entertained by his sudden apparent gall, and Izo looks at him with annoyance.

Ace puts his hands on his hips. "Alright, listening?”

All Might looks between the three of them awkwardly. He licks his lips and fidgets with his fingers. He's probably feeling awkward, and Ace will apologise later.

“So I’m _pretty sure_ that I’m your brother.”

Thatch blinks. Izo stares.

All Might looks thoroughly confused.

Then, Thatch laughs. _Loudly_.

Izo starts to chuckle.

“Yeah, right!” Thatch says. “No brother of ours would ever become a hero! How’d you know we were looking for our family, though? You could've been, with that quirk but... a _hero_? No way in any circle of hell." He laughs harder. “Oh wow, I think I’m crying. Look Izo, _tears_.”

Izo’s chuckle sounds more malevolent. “I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m going to shove your head _so far up your ass_ you’ll find yourself neatly wedged up your oesophagus.”

“Literally no brother or sister of mine would pursue heroics —“ Thatch wheezes.

Ace, admittedly, hadn’t seen this coming. He’s a bit embarrassed. He also wants to pound their heads in, just a little bit. It isn’t that hard recognising him as Ace, is it? It’s the mask, isn’t it? He has no idea why they're just skimming past the fire. They're really stupid.

All Might puts a hand on his shoulder in silent commemoration. He has no idea what is going on.

“Fucking imagine!” Thatch crows, “what _dumbass_ of a family member... ah, I can’t take it! My stomach hurts.”

Ace has to admit, he’s disappointed. He expected them to instantly recognise him at the confession, but they didn’t, and well yeah. It hurts.

And he’s not dumb! It’s not like they all unanimously agreed to become villains together.

He'll take this as a sign, however. If they didn't see him for who he is, after all the signs that he is Ace, including the confession, then why should he try harder? Because he did try. And after this, he has no obligation to go further.

“You —“ he prepares to raise his voice, but before he gets the chance to, an old man slams main the door of the centre open and waddles in with a look of utter fury on his face.

The man scans over all of them and yells as loud as a plane engine, “you hooligans!”

His voice lowers then, but his yell is enough to implore everyone in the warehouse to look at him.

“Who do you think you are? How dare you, how dare you! I’ll call the authorities, I’ll call the pro-heroes, I’ll call ‘em! You thieves, you burglars, you vandals, you rapscallions!”

Oh! Ace remembers the feeling from earlier. He knows what he forgot.

Neither of them asked for permission to hold a stakeout in the storage warehouse! Well, he'll be dammed. That's kind of funny, actually, and he chuckles. All Might seems bewildered at that.

He also looks guilty. Oh no. This is going to be one of the bad days to be a hero, isn't it?

“Run?” He suggests to All Might.

Unfortunately, All Might is a voice of reason apparently because he shakes his head and holds Ace in place with the hand that has been on his shoulder since earlier.

Thatch and Izo however have no such problems and immediately run out of the warehouse at record speed. They don’t bring any balloons with them, so Ace counts his heroic stakeout mission as a win.

People should make him do these jobs more often. Sure, they don’t necessarily go as one would think but in the end, he gets the job done, doesn’t he?

(He’s sort of mad at them.)

The next thirty minutes of his life don’t deserve a monologue. Suffice it to say that somehow All Might calms the man down, and they get forgiven with barely a slap on the wrist. Turns out the man isn’t that bad of a person, and he’s happy that they saved his balloons. Most of them. The ones that had bound Ace together earlier are in tatters, and the dick balloon is severely charred.

..

“So, you going to explain what happened earlier or...?” All Might’s trails off. He looks tired by the day's events, and his posture is a bit slumped. Ace considers his mood and decides it’s probably because, in All Might’s eyes, he sees the mission earlier as a failure.

Perhaps this is why Ace isn’t a top hero.

He doesn’t care about the mission, he’s just annoyed that his brothers didn’t believe him. What did he miss, huh? Was he supposed to scream ‘fire fist’ or something?

Gah! It doesn't even matter!

“Oh, heh.” Ace scratches the back of his head sheepishly. They’re both doing the walk of shame back towards the centre of the city. Ace abandoned his hero costume and replaced it with a pair of beach shorts and a cowboy hat, feet bare, while Toshinori is wearing a suit. He finds their opposing outfits hilarious. “So I’ve got narcolepsy, which means that I fall asleep a lot and I can’t control it. It’s been happening for as long as I can remember. It also happens at the worst times."

Toshinori frowns at him, “no, I wasn’t asking about that.”

Huh.

“I was asking about how you told them you were their brother. I don’t understand.”

Ace has no idea how he’s going to explain this one.

“Well.” Ace says, “do you want the long version of the story or the short version?”

Toshinori considers. “Do you have a middle ground?”

Well, he supposes so. “I guess.”

He hesitates for a minute.

“So, turns out I know more about Whitebeard’s crew than what I’ve told anyone.” Toshinori doesn’t look impressed. Ace chuckles awkwardly and continues, “his crew makes up his sons, not biological, and they refer to themselves as a family. So a long time ago I became one of his sons, and then I left and then I met up with Izo and Thatch today — those are the two guys we saw today — and I tried to let them know it was me but they didn’t recognise me.”

Toshinori, when Ace looks up, is staring at him.

“I...”

“It’s not like it’s that important to the meeting, you know. I’m just some low-ranked hero.” An amazingly talented low-ranked hero in his opinion, but low-ranked nonetheless which means that no one would ever listen to him seriously.

Except for Toshinori apparently, but Toshinori is too nice for his own good.

“I’m pretty sure that’s important.”

“They wouldn’t have listened.”

“They’re _heroes_ ,” Toshinori argues lightly. “They would have if you brought it up.”

“Well I didn’t want to tell them,” he confesses. “What would they have done, huh? Used me to get to my family? We might have chosen different paths, but they’re still my family. They’re good people, and I’m not letting anyone use me to get to them.”

A hand lightly brushes his shoulder, and Ace let his posture slump.

“You could have told me.”

“I did. So. What do you plan to do now, huh?”

They walk down the path slowly, and it’s evident that Toshinori is deep in thought. Ace walks forward with determination behind his eyes.

He likes Toshinori. But if he announces or if he plans to do anything against Ace’s family, Ace’ll destroy him. He’ll burn him to a crisp.

“I don’t know,” Toshinori says eventually. “If you say that your family is good, then I’ll... I’ll stand out on this one. The other heroes can do something about them.”

Ace gapes, “you’re giving them a pass because I said they’re good people? You literally fought my two brothers earlier!”

“I trust you.”

Ace feels his face heat up. “Sh-shut up!” He hates that he likes how Toshinori is absurdly heroic.

They keep on walking.

"...Thank you."

"No problem."

..

A problem with All Might standing down on this case is that, to put it bluntly, the rest of the heroes stand no match against the Whitebeard Crew.

Now that All Might isn't there to stop them, no one else is good enough to stop them. So they're not stopped.

Time passes, and The Whitebeard Crew become renowned. They become a household name. The pro-heroes in the high ranks despise the Whitebeard Crew, one reason for which is because not many civilians seem to.

Despite the general chaos the Whitebeard Crew cause, they don’t do anything too awful or blatantly horrendous.

Time passes again, a lot of time, and Ace doesn’t encounter the members of his family that much anymore. He doesn’t have a chance of letting himself be known by his family unless he publicly removes his mask.

Ace gets popular. Ace and Toshinori become great friends.

His family eventually stop approaching him altogether.

(Time passes.)

..

Ace runs down the stairs with his UA acceptance letter and holds it up to his parents with a big grin across his face.

“And you thought I couldn’t do it,” he brags, “eat _this_! Haha, I’m going to become the best hero ever and I’m going to be _awesome_!”

Dad smiles at him, “good job kiddo. But mind your manners, if you don’t continue to be polite I’m pulling you out.”

That’s just like him, Ace thinks. Threatening him seconds after congratulating him on something. But Ace wouldn’t have him any other way.

“I’d like to see you try!”

Mum pats him on the head when Ace runs up to show them the letter.

“You're growing up so fast,” Mum says to him with a wistful smile. “But you’ve always been rather mature, haven’t you?”

(Ace is going to be number one.)

..

Time passes and passes.

All Might becomes the number one hero. He’s constantly under fire for never doing anything about the Whitebeard Crew. The group of villains seem confused themselves, but take the pass with high heads and don’t attempt to attack All Might directly.

..

On the day of the last ever UA sports festival, just like the two prior, Ace pretends he’s unwell.

Mum and dad nudge him to go, they offer to try and get Recovery Girl to help him, but Ace turns the suggestion away.

He doesn’t want to go.

(He takes the opportunity of feigning illness to watch over the tapes and watch in real-time as the crowd is scanned over.

But no one he knows is ever there.)

Ace doesn’t like the sports festival. He’s never liked the idea of it.

He hates the idea of standing in front of a large array of people, he hates the idea of people focusing on him.

(He hates the idea of standing on a _podium_ in front of them all.)

And, age 18, Ace reconsiders trying to become the world’s best hero.

(He doesn’t want people looking at him.)

..

Time passes. Ace becomes the seventh popular hero. This is because fans start to notice his chest more now that he leaves it uncovered more often. It's alright with him, as long as cameras focus on his pecs and not his face, then he doesn't see much of a problem. Seeing his face just seems different to him somehow.

Nonetheless, on the day of his official promotion, he comes home to his apartment to vomit in his sink. They can't see his face, but they want to. So many people want to see it, they comment on all the fan pages and the websites. Who is Flame? What does he look like?

Maybe if he sticky-tapes a picture of his abdomen over his mask, they'll stop?

Time passes, and All Might gets injured, horrifically. He doesn’t tell Ace how. But now, he has a limited time frame to use his powers. Now, he can’t eat certain things, and he gets thinner by the day. Ace finds himself at Toshinori’s house more often than not.

..

He doesn’t get along with the people in his year. They're all aspiring heroes, and they're all cheerful and hopeful, and he's not. He's just biding his time and waiting for his graduation.

He doesn’t want to get along with them.

He let down his family.

He doesn’t want to let anyone else down.

(And then years later, All Might worries for him and Ace sees him and feels something forming in his chest. Loneliness, fear, hope — and he reaches out. He doesn't let go.

He doesn’t regret it.)

..

One day, Ace finds himself sitting next to Toshinori on Ace’s horrendous orange couch with the knowledge that they’ve known each other for around three years.

Three years and he hasn’t seen his family directly for one. It's shorter than before, but now that he knows that he can find them anytime he wants, it's harder. Because now it's a choice he's making.

He decides to leave it to fate. If they find him, then he'll let them know. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

..

If they wanted him, wouldn’t they have figured out who he was?

He broke his promises.

His death lead to a war that killed a large portion of his family.

Why would they want him?

So even if he misses them like the clouds miss the sky, he does nothing. He tells himself that convincing Toshi against trying to capture them is enough.

..

And then one day he sees Marco in a build-a-bear, without his crappy Phoenix costume, and he bursts into tears. It’s not even funny at this point, just pathetic.

Marco looks confused beyond reason, but Ace, in his Flame costume, just can’t stop. A kid is staring.

(It’s been one year since he's seen members of his family, and three years since he's seen Marco in particular.)

And here he is, repeating the past, staring at Marco and balling his eyes out with Marco obviously having no clue about why he’s doing so.

Ace tells himself that now would be the perfect time to pull him aside and reveal his identity. But he can’t.

He just can’t.

What’s he supposed to say?

Oh hey, sorry for hiding for so many years?

Marco has probably given up or... or something. Ace’s mind goes blank, and he just cries harder.

“Are you okay, yoi?” Marco asks after a long pause filled with muffled crying and a mum steering her child away from them, “is everything... alright?”

Absolutely not.

Ace starts to cry harder.

..

The ship rocks.

“Hello, yoi. I’m Marco.” He stands from the doorway and stares into Ace's prison with a blank face.

“Fuck off,” Ace spits out.

Marco looks unfazed, and Ace hates hates hates it. He wants to jump up and beat his face in. He wants to set him aflame and watch him burn.

Who does he think he is?

Ace hates how Marco looks at him. He hates him.

“Dinners in two hours, Pops wants to let you know.”

“I don’t care.” He’s not going to eat here. They think he’s stupid. He’s not. If he needs to eat, he’ll steal from the kitchens.

Ace is not a prisoner.

(He hates them.)

“Alright, yoi.”

Marco retreats out of Ace’s room — his cell! — and closes the door behind him all the while Ace glares holes into his back.

..

“Marco!” Ace wails.

Marco looks suitably alarmed that the masked hero breaking down next to him in a build-a-bear knows his name.

..

“Why do you call —“

..

“Do I know you?” Marco asks wearily. He’s backing up a bit, and Ace is too shaken to notice or care. He knows that he should feel embarrassed, but he just feels despair. He misses Marco so, so much.

..

(“Why do you call him ‘Pops.’?”)

..

“You stupid fire-turkey!” Ace spits out after a particularly loud sob.

(And Marco _freezes_.)

“You, you — you didn’t, I didn’t—“ he looks up into Marco’s eyes, which are starting to look fearful and hopeful and many other things. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Ace?” Marco breathes.

“I just miss you guys. So, _so much...!_ ”

The words are taken as confirmation. Marco’s arms engulf him.

..

(“Because he calls us 'sons'. The world hates us for what we are, you know? So it makes us happy. Even if it's just a word...it still makes us happy!")

..

They don’t stop hugging for a long time.

..

The only time they momentarily stop hugging is when they both get kicked out of the build-a-bear.

They cry, a lot, and even if people stare they don’t give a shit. Ace is so tired, and he’s been wishing for this for a long, long time.

“You dumbass!” Marco manages to say after a while. “You dumbass, you...”

Ace grasps his purple shirt.

“We’ve been looking for you. For years, for... for years, but we couldn’t find you and it’s because. It’s because you became a hero — you _dumbass_! Why would you do that?”

“I wasn’t thinking about it.”

Marco laughs, and Ace sniffles.

“Obviously not. So... three years ago, when you...”

“Yep.”

“That was because —“

“Yeah.”

“After all this time, you were right in front of us!”

“Pretty much.”

“Why didn’t you tell us? Or come and find us?”

“I didn’t think that you guys forgave me.” He still doesn't.

Marco looks him in the eyes. “You never owed us an apology,” he says seriously. “You’re our brother. We miss you. Come home, idiot.”

Ace tears up again.

..

That day Ace comes home with a new number on his phone and tears in his eyes. He collapses on the couch and screams into a pillow.

Well, he’s done it. He’s told them he’s here.

It’s too late to regret it now.

..

Sometimes, when the UA sports festival comes on, Ace sits down and watches the it. He used to watch it to see his schoolmates compete and to scan the audience for people he could recognise. Now, he watches it to see what happens. To be entertained. It’s not a big thing, but Ace sees this as progress, in a funny way.

This year, he doesn’t put it on, but he’s okay with that. This year he thinks of his family, and he thinks of meeting them again, and he fills up with nerves.

He misses them.

(He’ll see them again soon.)

..

The next day All Might swings by after patrolling, and he finds Ace texting on his couch in semi-darkness.

“Ace?”

“Toshi!” Ace jumps up and runs over to him, and grasps one of his arms with both hands. “You won’t believe this —“

“Did you burn down another police building?” He interrupts, “because I told you _last time_ that I’m not helping you get out of the next time, so you’ll have to ask someone else to —“

“No, not this time!” Ace pulls him over to the couch and sits him down next to him, and All Might’s form deflates down and relaxes back.

“I saw one of my brothers again!”

Toshinori raises an eyebrow. “Oh? It’s been a while since you’ve met one of them —“

“I told them who I was!”

Toshinori gapes. As Ace grins and rubs the back of his neck, Toshinori starts to smile and pats him on the back. Ace jolts forward.

“Good job,” he says. “I’m proud of you.”

“So am I,” Ace admits. “But I’m still not sure if I did the right thing. What if they’re angry, after all, I left them for so long and I didn’t tell them even though I should have and...”

He looks at Ace in the eyes and lowers his voice. “Ace. They’ll be glad to see you again. Did your brother look happy after you told him?”

“Well, yes.”

“Then surely your siblings are happy too, right?”

“Well, I don’t know! Marco said I have to tell them myself.”

Toshinori smiles. “You’ve told me a lot about them. If they’re anything like how you’ve described them, they’ll be ecstatic to see you again.”

Ace looks away. He fidgets.

“You think so?”

“Of course!”

..

All Might stands outside of an underwhelming abandoned ship-store. It’s fairly separated from the city and seems incredibly overlooked. It's along the coast and it took an hour to drive here.

All Might walks up to the front door, and with the grace of the world’s best hero, he knocks.

Three seconds later, and the door shyly slips open.

A tall man peers out, meets All Might’s gaze, and lets out a frightened ‘eep!’

The door slams. All Might listens to a terrified yell, “he’s found us! Pops, he’s found us!”

“Who’s found us?” A female voice bellows in question.

“All Might! It’s All Might, he’s coming for us! Fuck —“

“Oh shit!” A new voice shrieks.

" _We're all gonna die!_ "

Another voice screams with no words attached, and then finally, after a short pause filled with the sound of scuffling and audible panic, a final new voice rings out. “Oh _shit_ — Hey, Pops, where are you —“

All Might stands silently in place with a piercing grin.

The front door is blown off its hinges by an internal force, and a large man who makes All Might look like a dwarf stands before him.

“What do you want?” The man asks.

All Might’s smile stretches wider. “To bring you to justice. I am here!”

Several screams echo out.

Ace, barely within All Might’s field of view, gives him a thumbs up.

..

“I must say, I’m curious. You’ve always let us pass until now. What changed?”

All Might’s chuckles. It’s a vivid contrast to Whitebeard’s facial expression, which looks stern and unfalteringly dark.

“The deal I made three years ago has come to an end.” All Might’s grin stretches wider.

“Oh? And who would have made that deal with you?”

All Might meets his eyes. “Does it matter? He’s dead.”

Ace tries not to laugh. He knows All Might well enough to see that he is an awful liar, but his family aren’t as familiar with his vocal cues and therefore have no clue that he’s making a bluff.

“If you think you’re going to be able to bring my family to your so-called ‘justice,’ then you’re sorrily mistaken.”

All Might doesn’t bother to reply. Instead, in a threatening movement, he punches forward. The clouds in the sky instantly go backward in the sky, and the blast of air smashes the sides of the ship-store and a good portion of the sides go flying.

It reveals a veritable army of people. All of them are looking at All Might. Some look horrified, others look bored, some look amused. Marco looks like he’s doing his best not to laugh, meanwhile Izo repeatedly slaps his shoulder with annoyance and confusion.

Ace is hiding behind a bit of debris, no longer watching the exchange and instead staring at his family with an awestruck expression. He’s in his Flame costume, and he's scared. He doesn't think they'd want to see him, not all of them, not after all this time and who he is. But maybe. Maybe. Marco has convinced him to visit, however, and everyone knows you can't turn down Marco.

“Oh?” All Might draws out the word, looking amused.

Whitebeard laughs dryly. “Do you think that’s impressive?” Seconds later, there’s chaos. The floor cracks and several of Whitebeard’s children scream and run back to avoid sliding into a small ravine that splits in between All Might and him.

Neighbours in the area run out of their homes and watch the exchange at a distance. One woman faints, and another woman takes out her phone and starts to record.

Ace takes this as his cue and runs out of his hiding place to nudge civilians out of the area.

From a group of civilians, he hears cheers of “Flame!”

The woman with the phone tilts it in his direction, despite the ravine and the interesting confrontation well to the side of him. "Damn he's _hot_!" He hears.

Ace sighs.

From the other side of the area, he hears “Cry-Guy!” And he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to feel.

He does his best to help the citizens evacuate. It’s not too hard as there aren’t many people who live nearby the Whitebeard’s ship-store. He instructs them to start to drive or walk towards the city, and they listen to his instructions reasonably.

All the while he does this, he hears and feels shockwaves and punches and occasional boos and cheering.

He can hear someone placing bets.

After he’s double-checked that the area is clear, he jogs back to All Might’s side. All Might looks only slightly winded, while Whitebeard looks around the same. Ace glances at both of them and feels a grin split his face. He’d have never have guessed they were equally matched. He’d have pegged his Pops for being stronger, but apparently not. All Might is just Like That.

“And why are _you_ here?” Whitebeard’s voice booms across the clearing. His attacks halt.

All Might straightens up and grins.

Ace steps forward to make eye contact with his Pops. And then, with his entire family watching him, he puts his hand over his mask.

Bursts of flame whisp around his ankles. He’s Portgas D. Ace, he thinks to himself. And, “I’m here to take your head!”

The mask falls to the ground.

There is silence.

And then, _pandemonium_.

..

“You fucking asshole!”

“This whole time, I can’t believe you—“

“Aceeeeeeeeee!”

“I missed you!”

“ _You’re_ Cry-Guy?” Curiel mumbles, surprised.

“Don’t call me that!” Ace calls out to Curiel.

“Oh my god _Acey_!” Someone yells.

All Might’s joyful laugh echoes in the air.

..

Ace goofily smiles. Whitebeard takes one look at him and All Might standing together and grins. He lowers his guard.

“Welcome home, son.”

Thatch runs forward and tackles Ace to the ground. Izo joins him, and then Vista, and then Haruta, and Marco and Jozu and Curiel, and then Ace loses count.

Whitebeard, smaller than he was as a giant but still much larger than the average man, pulls them all into his arms and pulls in All Might — who looks a bit confused at the motion but pleased — to join them.

Many people are crying.

..

“Sometimes,” mum says to Ace, “I feel like you’re waiting for something.”

Ace, five years old, scowls at her and doesn’t answer.

..

“I missed you guys!” Ace shouts between his family’s collective yelling. He gets tugged forwards and backward, and someone is ruffling his hair. It’s a little hard to breathe, but he feels at home and he’s missed this feeling so, so much.

“I’m — I’m sorry!” He says amidst happy and teasing comments.

“Don’t apologise,” Thatch says. His face is right next to Ace’s ear. “It’s not your fault you’re a dumbass. A hero — really? Why the hell did you become a _hero_? I thought for sure it wasn't you! I mean, _seriously_! A hero?”

“It’s not like we all agreed to this beforehand!” He hisses, and a few people nearby chuckle.

Thatch snorts. “We’re pirates, we need freedom, it was _implied_!”

“I got here eventually, didn’t I?” He snarks, but it lacks any heat.

Izo hums and gives him a look. “Yes, many years later and nothing but a hero profession and a hot boyfriend to your name.”

All Might, who is in the hug and close enough to hear their exchange, let’s out a ‘meep’ noise and then immediately looks embarrassed.

Marco grins at them, and smugness radiates out of every pore. “I’m pretty sure Ace’s loaded now. I saw him at build-a-bear the other day, and if that’s not an indicator of wealth, I’m not sure what is, yoi.”

Ace looks at him, aghast, and manages to spit out, “ _you think visiting build-a-bear means weal—_ “

“You _knew_?!”

Several people glare at Marco, and Marco snorts. “Since a few days ago.”

The hug splits apart and three of Ace’s brothers tackle Marco and start to brawl. Thatch comments about ‘fights damaging the house,’ then looks at the splintered remains of what used to make up the boat-shop and sighs. Then he joins in the fight.

Whitebeard walks close to Ace and pulls him close. Ace’s hands do an odd-looking maneuver in the air which was made with the intention of hugging him back. But his back is in a weird position and he isn’t flexible enough to hug him back, so he’s mostly just waving his arms in the air.

“My son,” he says fondly.

“Pops.”

Ace is so happy. He can't believe he's put this off for so long.

Pops chuckles into his ear. “You’re such a dumbass.”

“Oi!”

All Might and Ace’s family just laugh.

He changes his mind, they’re terrible and he wants to go home.

(And then he falls asleep.)

He doesn’t know what happens after that, of course, but he wakes up surrounded by his family with All Might lounging next to him in what he overhears is a ‘back-up boat-shop.’ He’s comfortable and warm. He goes back to sleep.

..

“I still can’t fucking believe you, Ace!” Thatch crows a day later. “Only you. Only _you_!”

Ace grumbles, shoves a piece of toast into his mouth, and tries not to smile. His family is just how he’s always remembered them. The back-up boat-shop is an hour away from the first boat-shop, along the coast. It’s run-down, but it’s also well-lived in.

The back-up is also known as the holiday boat-shop. Apparently his family used to go there on some holidays, but not often as it was far from the city. The boat-shop is massive. There is a room for every member of the family, and Ace doesn’t have a single fucking clue how no one has questioned the size of it yet. Sure, boats are big, but his family is massive.

Speaking of his massive family, every single one of them has taken the time to come up to him and just fucking laugh. Sure, sometimes they cry after, but seriously?

“Come on!” Ace hisses, “it’s not like there was a pamphlet when I was reborn here.”

Thatch just shook his head with a grin. Seeing Ace’s pout, he sits down next to him on the large beat-up couch. They were in one of the lounge rooms around the kitchen, fashioned from an old worker's break room. Thatch wraps his arm around Ace and ruffles his hair, and Ace groans, but he continues to wrestle with his hair.

“Aw Acey, don’t be like that, it’s just that I wove you!” The way he pronounces ‘wove’ makes Ace want to shove him, so he does. Thatch just laughs.

“The next person to tease me will have a burn in the shape of my ass on them.”

“Sure, you-betcha,” he hums. Ace takes another bite of his toast. “So why’re you in the private lounge when you could be in the big one? You nervous about seeing everyone together again?”

Ace splutters and coughs. “No!” He says immediately, “it’s just, well.” He scratches the back of his neck and looks down, “it’s uh — All Might. He keeps smiling at me and uhm, I dunno.”

Thatch stares at him blankly. Then, like a switch was flicked, his mouth slowly starts to edge up at the sides. Panic runs through Ace’s veins.

“Aw,” Thatch coos. “Who would’ve thought! That’s adorable.”

“What?” Ace spits out, “it’s not what you think, it’s —“

“Nope! Let me stop you there. I’m your brother, I know you. You touched the back of your neck! It means you like him.”

“At least I don’t suddenly lose the ability to speak,” Ace mutters. When Thatch had started to like Izo, everyone knew. Izo would be around Thatch, and his family would be inevitably entertained watching Thatch suddenly at a loss for words. He’d stutter and fidget. It’d been super fun to laugh at him.

“Aha! So you admit you like him!”

Ace turns around and shoves another piece of toast into his mouth. “Sho whatsh?”

“Cute.”

“Oi!”

“You’re growing up, I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m leaving.” His ears feel hot.

“To your hubby?”

“I’m _not_ — I’ll see you later!” Ace practically runs to the exit. He hugs his plate of toast close to himself and slams the door behind him.

When he turns around to the hallway, he sees Marco with his hand raised to knock.

“Oh, hey.”

Marco looks him up and down, and his eyes pause on his ears. “So... All Might, yoi?”

“Eat ass, Marco,” Ace walks gracefully away and takes a large bite of toast so he doesn't have to answer further.

..

He walks into the eating hall to find some of his siblings staring at him.

“Ah, sup?”

A nurse starts to cry. “I thought it was a dream,” she whispers. “But it’s not. Welcome back, dumbass!”

“Oi!”

People laugh, and Whitebeard’s chuckles echo over the room. Ace makes eye contact with All Might and blushes. He hears coos and throws his toast at some of his siblings as if they were birds. Fuckers.

..

Ace is surrounded by his family the entire day. All Might had to leave in the morning because he couldn’t uphold his transformation for longer. His sisters are hanging off him, and he won’t get left alone. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.

They talk and catch up. He gets laughed at. He laughs at them.

Then, they throw a party filled with alcohol and shitty balloons that were probably stolen.

“I can arrest you, you know!” He teases Izo. Izo doesn’t pause from his decorating and just scoffs playfully.

“No you couldn’t.”

Ace hums and looks away, “yeah, probably not.”

..

“I’m sorry,” he tells Pops.

“Gurarara!” Pops chuckles. “Just don’t let it happen again!”

Ace turns pink as his family laughs at him and ribs him further.

“Now, when are you going to invite that nice man to join the family?”

“Pops!”

..

The party they throw goes late into the night, and Ace only stops partying when All Might comes to pick him up. His siblings and Whitebeard wave them off cheerfully. Many of them tell him to come back tomorrow, and Ace has never been happier.

He’s spent so long avoiding them, and now he almost can’t remember why. He regrets how much he seems to have wasted his second chance at life — but in the end, his second chance is just that:

A second chance. It’s not over yet. In fact, it’s just beginning.

He’s together with his family, and while it may have taken a while, he’s _here_. This time, he can live longer with them. He can grow up with them, and tease them and drink with them and love them and laugh and remember a lifetime before this one.

He may have wasted a few years somewhat — but not entirely. He spent those years with Toshinori and his mum and dad, after all.

He has so much time left. 

It’s taken a while, but he’s here. And he’s not going to look back.

(He’s proud of himself.)

..

“Thank you,” he tells Toshi on the drive home.

Toshi looks at him from the drivers seat with a big grin, “no problem!”

Ace then says one final thing before he falls asleep in a drunken haze.

“By the way.. I think you’re hot!” He passes out to the sight of Toshi’s bright red face.

..

He wakes up the next morning in his bedroom of their shared apartment. He immediately remembers what he confessed to, and feels himself fill with that jittery butterfly feeling.

Ace stands up, and tells himself that he’s sick of hiding. He’s got this. He walks into the kitchen to the sight of Toshi making eggs, and stands in front of him with his hands on his hips and a solemn look on his face.

“Ah, Ace?” Toshi says sleepily. “You alright? Oh and uhm... you don’t happen to remember yesterday do —“

“I think you’re hot!”

Toshi gapes.

“I like you! Go out with me!” He’s looking him dead in the eyes.

Ace has spent too long missing his chances because of fear. He’s avoided things for so long that it’s taken a big negative effect on his life — and fuck that, right? He’s sick of letting things go by. He has to stand up, he has to go for what he wants. He needs to make up for lost time.

He fidgets, “I would, uh... yes. I’d love to.”

Because sometimes risking things is worth it.

Ace lights up and claps his hands together. Toshi is fidgeting with his apron. His cheeks are pink.

Ace bounds forward and hugs Toshi close. Toshi starts to hug him back. Just as they’re separating, Toshi gives Ace a warning look and kisses Ace square on the lips.

Ace is momentarily surprised but kisses back. It’s a kiss born of longing, happiness and excitement. Ace has never kissed someone before — not while sober, at least. The kiss isn’t some mystical thing that some people describe it as, and Ace doesn’t mind that.

He likes the realness of it. He likes how their teeth knock together due to mutual inexperience, he likes how Toshi keeps moving around his hands as if trying to find a good place to grasp him. Most of all, Ace likes Toshinori.

Ace likes how Toshinori is so heroic. He likes how he cares so much about Ace. He likes his stupid hair and how he laughs at Ace’s bad jokes. He likes his eyes, his hands, and how he smiles so largely that his teeth show.   
  


Its not a sort of romance created through ‘first glances.’ It wasn’t created through dramatics, either. It was built up gradually, through mutual respect and time and patience and companionship. 

They break apart. Ace can feel his cheeks hurting from the size of his grin.

Toshi looks at him adoringly. “I like you too,” he says finally. “And the eggs are burning.”

“Ah! Fuck!”

..

Ace doesn’t quit being a hero, he loves his job too much for that. Seeing the happy faces of civilians after he saves them is fulfilling in a way that stealing and piracy isn’t. Toshi stays by his side and together they fight villainy. But not the Whitebeard Crew.

No, they stay over at the Whitebeard Crew’s boat-shop most weekends and holidays. Ace’s family members sometimes use Toshi and Ace’s apartment as a place to crash.

Years pass, and every year is happy.

A new villain organisation tries to recruit Whitebeard and the organisation gets beaten into a pulp. All Might becomes a teacher. Ace continues to fight crime whenever he can, and takes joy out of punching random criminals in the face unhindered. Every now and then he visits or sends a letter to his parents.

All Might passes on his quirk to a quirkless kid named Izuku, and Izuku is a pretty cool kid.

The next few years are challenging, but it’s never too hard. All Might and Ace always have the Whitebeard Crew to back them up, after all.

..

Years pass, and Ace is thirty-six. He’s gotten so much older than he did last time.

He walks through the streets of a local park hand in hand with All Might. In the distance, a small dot rushes towards him, and he stares in confusion.

It gets bigger and bigger, and he prepares to defend himself. He’s not in costume but he can still claim self-defence. Toshi, his husband of seven years (Toshi proposed) just smiles at the dot in amusement. He’s taller and can see something Ace can’t.

“A—! —e!”

Eh?

“—ce!”

That sounds like...

“ _Ace_!”

Luffy.

Luffy! Ace runs forward, lets go of Toshi’s hand temporarily and rushes forward to scoop Luffy up in a hug. He’s young in this life, he looks barely thirteen, and he looks just how Ace remembers him to look like at thirteen.

“ _Luffy_!”

Luffy bursts into tears, “I found you! I found youuuu—“

“I’m so happy you’re here! You were reborn here too?”

“Yesh!” Luffy chokes out between tears, “my family just moved here, they’re over here, come see them, come see them. And you’ll never guess what Ace, I found Sabo too, he lives right across the street from me and —“

There’s a certain kind of personality that parents want in their children, Ace believes. Ace isn’t a typical 'good personality type.' He’s Ace, and what Ace is, is destructive and loud and not always that smart when it comes to some things. But he’s okay with that.

He’s grown up into something he’s kinda proud of. He’ll always try to improve himself, because he’ll never be perfect, but for now, he’s okay with who he is. He’s happy being Portgas D. Ace.

He might be destructive and loud and not always that smart, but his family and Toshinori love him anyway. And that’s enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment/ kudos? (-: thanks for reading. I’ve got another fic with the same ship in the works, by the way, same concept but swapsies on the characters a bit


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